Author's Note-Sorry about the wait, peoples. Like I said, it would probably be a little slow since I'm getting out of a pit of writer's block and lack of inspiration. –grins- However, I believe I've gotten my inspiration back, now. I've been writing quite a lot recently, and I think it's partially due to the fact that I have just recently seen the latest Kingdom Hearts trailer. That and the fact that we finally have spring break, so I can take a break from testing… -shudder- Oh, as usual, I don't own Kingdom Hearts or anything…just a few characters… -glances up at the 97 reviews- Hm… I knidawant to do something for when this fic gets 100 reviews…though I doubt it's going to be anything too big. If anyone has ideas or suggestions, though, let me know. I would like to thank everyone that's reviewed so far, though, and especially the people that have stuck to this story since they started reading it, despite the recent long waits for the chapters. –smiles- It's probably the other thing that's helped me get back my inspiration, so thanks. Anyways, other than all that, there's nothing much to say here. If anything, it'll probably appear in the rant on my profile page. Enjoy the chapter.
Barret paused, then nodded and grabbed Riku and Bugenhagen, Red XIII following him to stand by the entranceway. The monster paid no mind to them, but more to the annoying consistency of bullets hitting, panging against it from Vincent.
Vincent stopped, frowning slightly as he reloaded his gun with bullets. "The skin isn't pierced. As I thought: the skin is not glass. It seems to be more like diamond…" he observed. "Yukiro!"
Yukiro swung at the Heartless, but didn't break through. He frowned up at the monster-which didn't even notice him-and glanced back at Vincent. "Yeah?"
"The skin seems to be made of some diamond-like material. It won't break, not even when shot by bullets," Vincent informed him.
"Oh, fun. So what now? Target the eyes?"
"That might help."
"Might? If it can't see, it can't see."
"True, but for all we know, it may not have good eyesight already. It could possibly be relying on its sense of smell," Vincent suggested.
"With a nose like that? Are you kidding me?" Yukiro asked doubtfully.
Vincent shrugged. "Everything I've been throwing out so far has only been theories," he admitted.
"Really. Well I guess we can infer that it has a hard skin…" Yukiro said. He studied the Heartless for another moment, then called back to Vincent, "Try shooting its insides!"
"Just what I was planning…" Vincent replied as he reloaded his gun.
"Let's see…" Yukiro muttered, looking back up at the monster. "Claws…it probably has confidence in its speed. Either that or the claws are poisonous, but I'm willing to more bet the former, first. The tail is probably dangerous as well…" He frowned as the Heartless began to draw its head back. "And what is it doing…?"
In response to the question, some of the black liquid suddenly shot forth from nose of the monster and at Vincent. Vincent's eyes widened as he jumped out of its path. The liquid hit the rock, which sizzled and disappeared.
"Acid…" Yukiro noted. "Vincent! I think it fights more long-distance. I'll distract it, you just shoot," he suggested.
Vincent nodded and aimed his gun at the mouth of the beast.
"Oi!" Yukiro called to the monster, backing up a bit. The monster's head twisted to focus its red eyes on the prince. It roared, firing its black acid at him. Yukiro dodged, running around the cave as a stream of black acid followed behind him, dangerously close.
The monster suddenly stopped, letting loose another ground-shaking roar, but this time in pain. It was finally beginning to take note of the bullets lodged in its tongue and throat and mouth.
"It's working!" Yukiro said, grinning.
The monster seemed to glare down at him, narrowing its eyes. Yukiro's grin turned into a frown as he thought he saw some black and purple sparks coming from the large horns of the beast.
"What the…?" Yukiro muttered, beginning to back up.
The horns sparked again, then began to form two lines of flickering, then steady electricity, traveling between the two points. The points met, becoming one, and then beginning to feed into a large sphere of electricity of purple and black.
"Yukiro!" Vincent called.
"Yeah, I see it!" Yukiro called back. "How could I not…?" he muttered as an afterthought.
Yukiro stopped, preparing himself to dodge the crackling mass. Suddenly, a thin streak, like lightning! Yukiro's eyes widened, registering this for a moment before dodging. He winced as the streak just brushed him, cutting into his gi and shallowly into the skin, jolting his body. He landed and stumbled back a couple of steps, seeing spots before his eyes for a moment.
"You should pay more attention to its attacks. Are you wounded?" Vincent called over.
"Just slightly. And I was paying attention, I just was expecting to dodge the whole thing, not a thin lightning bolt," Yukiro shot back. "Don't worry; I can still fight."
"Good," Vincent replied, firing again. The monster roared in pain again as the bullet lodged into the roof of its mouth. The lightning flickered and disappeared. Several more gunshots and it was howling in pain again, too distracted to plan its next attack.
Yukiro smirked. "Serves it right…" he muttered.
"Oi! Yukiro, its tail!" Riku called from behind.
Yukiro blinked and looked to his right to see a large gray and silver mass rushing at him, too fast to dodge, too fast to react!
"Dammit, and you say I can't fight!" Riku growled, suddenly in front of him and stopping the tail with the point of his staff.
"Riku, what are you doing?.!" Yukiro demanded.
"What are you doing? If you're gonna fight this thing, then like Vincent said, you need to learn to pay attention," Riku shot back. He suddenly felt himself jolt forward. "Uh oh."
"Uh oh what?"
"Uhm…you didn't say this thing shot acid, did you?"
"Yeah…why…?" Yukiro asked suspiciously. He glanced over at where the staff was holding the tail at bay and noticed a slight puncture, a seepage of black liquid beginning to dribble out. ...Amazing. Especially when you consider the fact that the staff was not even sharp and minus a blade.
"I suggest we move," Riku suggested.
"You move. I want to try something," Yukiro stated.
Riku stepped out of the way, pulling back his staff. Yukiro swung his staff, catching the skin with the tip of the blade and dragging it across. The puncture soon became a long gash, which was good, but it also made the seepage suddenly become a deadly acid wave.
"Now we move!" he exclaimed, jumping back, away from the seepage. Riku followed.
The monster reared back its head, letting loose a deafening roar of pain. With all the acid rapidly draining out of it, it was now beginning to become clear. Yukiro winced at the volume of the roar, but smirked as he looked up at it…
As the monster's wings twitched and began to unfold…
Yukiro's eyes widened, his smirk being replaced with a look of alarm. "Wings…" he whispered, the wave of realization hitting him like a brick. "Wings are not just simply used for flight, but rather…"
He glanced back at the outstretched wings that were now beginning to gather swirling dark energy within them. "But that would be a kamikaze attack!" he exclaimed. He shook his head. A sudden flash of light…
"Everyone! Get down!"
"You're saying that cat is still following us?" Sora asked.
"Yeah. 'Course, I'm not surprised. Cats are supposed to have nine lives…" Tam replied. She glanced over at Bagheera. "Isn't that right, Bagheera?"
Bagheera glanced back at her. "Shere Khan is a very crafty person-"
"-Cat."
"-And while it's puzzling how he escaped from the trap you left him in, I'm not very surprised, either," Bagheera finished.
"Well, what if someone let him down? You know, helped him out?" Baloo asked.
"It's unlikely. How many people do you know that would let Shere Khan on the loose?" Bagheera argued.
"…Good point."
Taro glanced around at everyone, then spoke up. "Well…what about that giant snake? What was his name…?" Taro thought for a moment. "Oh, yeah, I think it was Kaa…"
"How do you know about Kaa?" Bagheera asked.
Sora blinked. "Kaa? Who's Kaa?"
"A giant snake we had a run-in with last night," Taro explained. "Tam kicked its ass, though. Sent it slithering on home."
"Well, I'd imagine…" Sora chuckled.
Tam twitched. "What's that supposed to mean..?.!" she demanded. The boys only laughed.
Bagheera shook his head. "As usual, mancubs definitely do not belong in the jungle…" he muttered. "But getting back to matters at hand," he continued in a louder voice, "I doubt that Kaa would free him. Even he is not that dumb."
"You sure about that…?" Tam muttered.
"Why are we even debating about this?" Taro wondered. "I mean, who cares how the tiger got down-the point is that he is down, right?"
Tam sighed. "Taro, you have to think ahead. You know, long term. If someone helped the tiger down, knowing that the tiger would probably stalk and try to kill us, then don't you think that means we have another possible enemy?"
Taro blinked, thinking on this for a moment, then shrugged. "So? What's your point? I've probably got a lot of enemies by now-it could be any one of them. And if it is a new enemy, then we'll just kick their ass when the time comes," he replied nonchalantly.
"Idiot. That is totally reckless-.-;…" Tam muttered. "Only more proof that intelligence lies only in the second X chromosome."
"Oh yeah? Well what about the first?"
"That's looks," Tam shot back. She grinned. "Idiot."
"Barren lands…" Sora muttered, almost to himself. He pointed up ahead, where the near-empty land could be noted from a distance by the sudden absence of canopy. "Is that it?"
Bagheera looked up. "Hm?"
"That's it, Spiky-Hair," Baloo replied.
"Yes, so be careful." Bagheera added.
"Yeah, yeah. We're not babies, so don't worry," Taro said, rolling his eyes.
They stopped where the forest came to an abrupt halt. The land ahead was gray and empty, a few sparse trees hanging over several small ponds. There were large rocks scattered along the ground, along with the occasional patches of long grass. The sky was dark, helping the gray of the vultures in the tree to camouflage.
"Genkai's training ground…" Tam muttered, her eyes skimming over the area.
"What?" Sora asked, blinking over at her.
Tam shook her head. "Nothing…" she replied.
Taro shook his head. "Barren lands… Sure lives up to its name, huh?"
Tam and Sora nodded in agreement. Baloo cupped his paws around his mouth. "Mowgli!" he called.
A boy with shoulder-length black hair and tan skin suddenly poked his head out from behind a tree. Baloo grinned.
"Mowgli!" he exclaimed. The boy-Mowgli, obviously-glared back at him.
"Go away! I'm not going to the man village," Mowgli called back stubbornly.
Sora frowned, blinking as he looked up at Baloo. "What's going on…?"
"Mowgli can't stay in the jungle-it would be too dangerous for him. He has to go to the man village," Bagheera replied.
Taro nodded. "Hm…I see…" he said. He took a few steps forward. "Oi, kid, you should probably consider it. I mean, okay, not all people are good, but I bet the village won't be that bad," he called.
"Oh yeah?" Mowgli challenged. "Who are you?"
"My name's Taro. These are my friends, Tam and Sora. We're all mancubs, too," Taro replied.
Sora glanced back at Mowgli, then blinked and frowned as he thought he saw…movement? Yes, movement! Right by the boy's feet, coming from the pond right next to him!
"Hey!" he shouted. No one seemed to notice.
…No one except Tam. Her green eyes were narrowed. By now, Sora had pretty much gathered that this was a habit, and a pretty accurate one at that. Whenever there was danger, her eyes were narrowed. She noticed.
…So why wasn't she doing or even saying anything?.!
Author's Note-Hm… Suggestions for worlds are still open, both Disney and anime. Doghouse, I'd like to check out the website, but it doesn't say the whole thing in the review, and the e-mail is incomplete, too. Just e-mail it to me or something, okie? Oh, and yeah, DemonSurfer, I know who Krad is (poor Satoshi, too... -sniffle-). DNAngel does rock. I have six, too. Ed rocks, but not as much as Roy (even if he is a bastard in the video game), heheh... –grin- Not much that I haven't said above, but my rough draft is finally beginning to grow again, which is good. Hopefully that means that I'll start having my chapters out faster. Check on my author's status to check the next estimated posting time (yeah, I know I had forgotten to update it, but I'm planning on getting to that right after posting this) and other things. The next chapter, though, will probably be out soon. So, please review! Ja ne!